Tuesday, August 05, 2014

Warsi resigns over "morally indefensible" Gaza policy

As Baroness Warsi was extinguishing her candle last night in Westminster Abbey, symbolising the lights going out all over Europe a century ago, she knew that she was about to snuff out her political career.

His Grace won't re-rehearse the praise he has poured out on Sayeeda Warsi in the past (time and time and time and time and again):
she is undoubtedly brave, articulate and forthright in her beliefs. She glides
through the complexities of Pakistani politics; confronts ‘honour’
killings, mandatory veils and the evils of forced marriage; exposes voter fraud and immerses herself
in very relevant and pressing social issues which benefit more than her
co-religionists. Contrary to the pervasive Muslim caricature, her eyes are not solely fixated on the glorification of Allah
and the wellbeing of the Ummah. Indeed, she has long been a staunch advocate - in word at least - of the Christian faith and its importance for our foundations of liberty. She spoke well, even if she did not always understand.

But she has resigned from the Government over its policy on Gaza, which she says in "morally indefensible".

This is curious, not least because Foreign Secretary has not articulated any policy at all on the matter. Still green in the job, one gets the impression that he studiously straddling fences and balancing on pinheads in order to avoid offending anyone, possibly in order to bolster the Muslim vote.

But perhaps that is Baroness Warsi's problem. She clearly believes that HM Government ought to join in the global choruses of condemnation denouncing Israel, accusing the Zionist aggressor of war crimes and demanding sanctions. She insists that all arms exports to Israel must stop. And since the FCO isn't prepared to dance to that tune, she has decided to clear her desk and resign.

Perhaps that is a good thing.

For all the praise heaped upon her over the years by this blog, she has, of late, completely lost the plot. She lectures us about "true Islam", and mocks those who expose the paucity of her theological understanding. She tweets and tweets about Sharia finance, seemingly oblivious to the religio-cultural significance of the policy. She convened a committee to propagate global religious liberty, but it met only twice for coffee, said absolutely nothing and achieved even less. And she answered many of her critics with veiled allusions to 'Islamophobia', thereby shutting down any valid criticism of her incompetence and deficiencies.

There was a feeling, if not the perception, that this 'Senior Minister of State' had made something of a hobby out of being in the Cabinet, and was using her position in the FCO more for faddish personal interests than the weighty matter of implementing government policy. William Hague was prepared to indulge her and the Prime Minister humoured her: she was symbolically important for Tory detoxification, modernisation and Cameroon rebranding project. It was important that the first female Muslim in the Cabinet was seen to be happy, fully integrated and successful.

Her loss will be keenly felt - not so much in Government but certainly in CCHQ on the run-up to the 2015 General Election. As she agitates now from the Lords' backbenches, descends on chat shows and takes to the airwaves and blogs (it must be noted that she handed her first post-resignation interview exclusively to her co-religionist Mehdi Hasan), the impression will be given that Muslim interests aren't entirely served by or represented in the Conservative Party. And those interests, for many British Muslims, are inseparable from dreams of Palestinian statehood.

The reality, of course, is that Sayeeda Warsi's personal opinions increasingly found no place in the Conservative Party. But that distinction will be lost entirely in those constituencies where the Muslim vote is significant to the outcome of the next General Election, whence she will now doubtless receive dozens of invitations to speak about Israel's "war crimes", "outrages" and "massacres".

Hamas are terrorists, she insists. But Israel is an "occupying power".

And in that 'but' is all the justification Hamas ever needs to continue lobbing missiles at Israel's towns and cities, kidnapping civilians and bombing children on school buses.

Perhaps, instead of dedicating her honoured position in the House of Lords to pontifications about Palestine or denunciations of HM Government, Baroness Warsi might follow the laudable example of Baroness Cox and turn her efforts to global acts of compassion and humanitarian relief. It's very easy to be "morally outraged" from the red backbenches.

61 Comments:

"And in that 'but' is all the justification Hamas ever needs to continue lobbing missiles at Israel's towns and cities, kidnapping civilians and bombing children on school buses." I haven't read anything about Palestinians doing any of this in the present horrors: I have read a lot about Israelis shelling infrastructure, bombing at 58seconds notice, and massacring the Innocent where people have taken refuge.I have for years followed your blog with interest and appreciation, but so much is now being said that inflames, takes sides, and allows no room whatever for a more Christian compassion, that I shall desert you - sadly. I can't imagine your namesake could have written as you now do.

Hamas is clearly a terrorist organization but it is supported by America and the EU .Where is the condemnation of that?.In case anyone is unsure of the aims of Hamas take a look at this....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sveSgB61WokIsrael is the buffer zone between us and the aims of Hamas an other terrorist groups.And as for hate speech Hamas are masters at 'whipping up' their followers into a frenzy of hate.

A positive development, Your Grace, despite your misgivings. The noble Baroness, as Minister of Faith, was clearly incapable of recognising the moral indefensibility of so much of Islam and so many Muslim actions.

Was she ever up to the job of being a British cabinet minister? Almost certainly not, but as a woman and a Muslim she ticked at least two boxes for Cameron, so to speak.

One is tempted to run a book on what the noble Baroness will do now and where she will end up. Pakistan may well be an option.

It is curious that you limit your understanding of the Israel/Gaza conflict only to "the present horrors", thereby restricting your historical understanding and propagating the false impression that the Israeli assault came ex nihilo. Such disinformation has nothing to do with the reality.

But to say that this blog "allows no room whatever for a more Christian compassion" is a manifest untruth, given that 100s upon 100s of posts over six long years have given space to nothing but. And, since discussions are rarely moderated, you were always free to make those contributions yourself. But instead, you choose to carp and criticise what is one of the few spaces in the entire blogosphere where the light of Christ may be shone on some deeply contentious religio-political issues. His Grace may not always get it right, but he is not infallible. You may not agree with every view propounded, but that is what the ensuing thread is for.

As for writing that which "inflames" and "takes sides", well, you clearly haven't read or understood much of the life of Thomas Cranmer, which was incendiary and deeply divisive. As was the life and ministry of Jesus Himself, for that matter. We all may strive for peace, unity, compassion and humility. But to pretend that Christ and Truth do not divide is to misunderstand history and distort theology.

His Grace thanks you for your past interest and appreciation. He hopes you will find a more Christian and compassionate expression on Bishop Alan's blog.

Cranmer, you are very good at writing about the human heart as known by God. But politics is purely of the mind. Writing about it takes us away from our heart. When we then return to writing about God, we find our heart dirtied by our mind. The problem is not that religion creeps into politics, but that politics creeps into religion.

All wars are spiritual. All solutions are spiritual, yet politics knows only political solutions: by virtue of being political, a political solution is not a solution.

Has anyone considered that the "innocent civilians" being killed in Gaza (excluding children) voted in an administration that has an openly declared objective of annihilating Israel and killing all Jews? They should have expected trouble.

IanCad, perish that thought; without her Ministry, Fair Albion will tear itself apart in an orgy of interreligious and intercommunal savagery. While we are on topic of vital ministries, have you noticed how the young gangbangers in trousers which ride lower than their arses shuffle, swagger and lope around in anthropometrically inefficient and physiologically stressful ways? High time for the long-ago suggested Ministry for Funny Walks as well.

An excellent point there, Dreadnaught. But there is more to it. With only seven, perhaps eight now, Iron Dome batteries, hundreds and possibly thousands of Hamas rockets would have landed in urban centres without the vigorous suppression from the air and ground operations which keep the launches to a "sustainable" hundred or so per day as opposed to over a thousand. We see examples of the rocket launch capacity whenever Hamas breaches a ceasefire to send off a quick salvo in an attempt to overwhelm the Oron Dome system.

Another point is that it is conservatively estimated that over ten percent of Hamas rockets fail to reach their targets and fall on the heads of Gazans instead. With over three thousand of them having been expended so far and hundreds landing rather randomly in Gaza, it's anyone's guess how many Gazan deaths from these have been blamed on Israel...not that one can count on Hamas' integrity and the "embedded" (in-bed?) media's courage to report casualty figures accurately. No, Benedictus from Arden is no idiot; she is well aware of the Iran-Hamas objectives and has chosen sides; her attempt to shame His Grace into silence with pseudo-religious moralizing is merely her way of firing her little shot at Jews in this conflict.

As an aside, it is curious that neither Baroness Varsi m(who presumably represented non-Muslims as well), nor Benedictus (who calls on "Christian compassion") are resigning due to the UK's government inaction on Iraqi Christians.

Good riddance to Lady Warsi. As for all this stuff about her 'conviction', why didn't she resign over Britain's relationship with, say, Saudi Arabia (or for that matter Pakistan) neither of which are glowing bastions of western tolerance and democracy, yet we still do deals and trade with them. Of which I see that there is now a review about not selling arms to the Israelis. If this is about 'human rights',rather than pandering to the anti-Israeli crowd, why not have a review about KSA as well?

You may be right, Explorer, but British media hasn't been uniformly hostile and facts are being reported, even if muddied with editorializing. My default assumption is that people who wind up here and spend some time are not usually uninformed dingbats. They may have an agenda, but are rarely idiots. Where I think you're wrong, though, is in taking her word that she's out of here. She was lurking before and will be lurking in the future, and is certainly lurking now to see her reaction to her post, which she no doubt imagines knocked the wind out of His Grace.

Miss Hannah, what has Lord Sacks done that deserves such as punishment? Anyhow, hoping you're having an easy fast. It's barely eleven here and I'm famished, dying for a coffee and feeling the onset of a headache. Often I'll skip breakfast and lunch and not notice, but on fast days I wake up starving. At least it's not a yomtov, so I was able to drive my suffering body for the morning services (normally a ten minute walk, but one is wasting away today). And sure enough, afterwards my gaze flicked over to the spot where usually the herring and scotch table beacons the hungry and thirsty traveller and could swear I saw a ghost of it. Like a phantom limb....

O, she won't comment...probably, unless really provoked...but she'll lurk, Explorer. I don't think anyone fires off a broadside and splits the scene without looking back in the hope of seeing victims bloodied by the flying splinters and hoping someone will beg for their return. As an amateur student of blog behavior, I've noticed that the typical profile of the Huffily Departed is someone who knows that there is no point to sticking around as they're way out of their depth and know that they'll be savaged by their critics.

Always thought Memsahib would be much more comfortable in Respect, which whatever its so called ‘far left’ leanings at the moment, will ultimately become the political party for all muslims in Great Britain. (Even now, the policies of the party could be described as {AHEM} ‘very attractive’ to the average anti Semitic muslim in the British street, and indeed other muslims, if there are any other muslims). Perhaps we’ll see her walking that way soon. She has so much still to give, don’t you find ?

Of course, it would mean giving up Western white man’s politics, but better her than the Conservative party in any dismal vote grubbing attempt to appeal to our home grown Mohameds. If they like Conservative principles, they’ll vote for them as they are, and why not ? Why go halal to attract more, when we know more would never come around anyay.

Curious, because, as you say, there isn't a policy towards Gaza at the moment. But there seems to be a policy to deny the Christians of Iraq asylum when they are being butchered by Baroness Warsi's co-religionists.

I suspect that most of Warsi's perspective has come from the same mainstream media as the rest of us.A mainstream media that sells newspapers based on body count.A mainstream media that carefully frames a shot so you see the 20 violent protestors not the 2000 peaceful ones.A mainstream media that frames a shot so it shows rubble from edge to edge.A mainstream media whose reporters are escorted around bombsites and report what they are told to report.A mainstream media that are dissuaded at gunpoint from filming rockets being fired, or rocket batteries deployed in schools.

A reporter's career is advanced by reports that have "impact". Brave reporters will use skill and guile to report the news that would go unreported at grave personal risk. In Gaza they are spoon fed stories that have impact, while the stories that need to be reported---the cynical siting of weapons next to civilians; the subjugation of a population who want to live normal lives---go untold.

The attacks from Israel are terrible. But if they are the only defence against those who proclaim their desire to obliterate you as a nation and state, they must be a source of great sorrow. As for Sayeeda Warsi, all political careers end in failure, hers in a particularly futile gesture.

I am inclined to think that it's more likely she knew someone else was about to snuff out her political career. Has she not outlived her usefulness, lost too many plots and become something of a liability, if not a joke?

What a surprise to discover that the resigning issue was Gaza. Surely resigning because of the British government's failure to tackle Islamic extremism at home, let alone abroad, would have been a more logical step?

Goodness! Now that the Dusky Baroness has flounced off, I am waiting for a telegram from the PM to step into her high heels. I think I would do an amazing job as Minister of Faiths and all such Thingies...A good Anglican woman at the helm, what could be better? I have to say I doubted Baroness Warsi's commitment to British values when she turned down an invitation to the annual Barchester Palace Hog Roast...but then so did Mr Milibandwagon...

I did one of my instant polls today at the beach in Aldeburgh.A man who has been retired 20 years from BT at age 55 reads the Guardian every day cover to cover. He actually looked like a Guardian reader. I mentioned that Warsi had resigned over the UK attitude to Gaza, he agreed. He said that Israel was in occupied land and that Palestinians should be helped. Just like a Guardian reader I thought and dropped the subject after saying the Jews were there 2000 years ago, several hundred years before Muslims.

There's an interesting compressed history article regarding The Holy Land, over 4,000 years of its blood soaked past, by Dominic Selwood in The Telegraph. It is best accessed via Anglican Mainstream. He's a worthwhile Historian but a poor spiritual guide though.

Anyhow, as prediction go, I put my wager on the Inspector's prediction that your Baroness Warsi will move on to RESPECT, with a good chance of snatching the leadership position. It's the most logical conclusion. She can tick all the right boxes as a woman, a visible minority and a Muslim and now has established impeccable credentials with the Left, the Muslims and the breathless media by attaing martyrdom by seeming to sacrifice a "brilliant career" on behalf of the World's mascots. Lauded as the only British MP with principles by such stellar leaders of public opinion like the Huffington Post, she won't be content to squawk from the back benches and will most likely conclude that it's better to be the head of a rabid and mangy dog party than the mangy tail of a British lion. The bets are on!

In terms of Lyndon Johnson's memorable metaphor, I suspect it won't be long before Conservatives and other conservatives come to the conclusion that she caused less inconvenience when she was inside the tent.

Quite possibly so, Uncle Brian, but it's not like the Conservatives could have done anything about it. There was no warning and the role as Britain's only principled MP beckoned, especially since her star has been waning. She positioned herself on the right side of history as the editorials in the UK dailies have confirmed and will ride the trend wave. What you just saw in the last three weeks was a fluke. Western countries committed the unthinkable crime of expressing sympathies for Israel, however tepid, but now it's time for sobriety. Under the stern gaze of the UN, Obama, Turkey and Qatar, academia, the elites and the media, it will be raining abject mea culpas in preparation for the massive jaziyahs Hamas will require to re-establish its credibility, maintain its power base and re-arm itself. Britain, France, our Green Party in Canada (with our New Democrats and the Liberals to follow), major publications, mainstream Churches; all are shuffling their feet, backtracking, mewling and apologizing for their bouts of temporary insanity. I can almost sympathize; with the specter of terror hanging over Europe (to paraphrase old Marx) and massive and increasingly dangerous Muslim populations, even nodding at Israel can be suicidal. To put it indelicately, the West is about to soil its panties. Just watch and see.

No, its a totally unacceptable argument! Best stick with the British Mandate and United Nation Resolution.

Are you saying none of the current people in the middle east are Semitic? Isn't Shem regarded as the father of Aram, Ashur, and Arpachshad: the ancestors of the Arabs, Aramaeans, Assyrians, Babylonians, Chaldeans, Sabaeans, and Hebrews?

Then there's this from the article recommended by David Hussell

"Before King David conquered Jerusalem around 1020 BC it had already been a Jebusite Canaanite city for around 2,000 years. During “biblical” Jewish control (c. 1020 BC–AD 135) Jerusalem was sacked five times according to Josephus, most seriously by Nebuchadnezzar and Titus. After the Jews came the Romans (AD 135–325), then Constantine and the Byzantine Christians (AD 325–637), Muslims (AD 637–1099), Christian crusaders (AD 1099–1187), Muslims (AD 1187–1516), Turks (AD 1516–1917), the British (AD 1917–1948), and finally the Jews again (1948–present), with dozens of short-lived minor conquests breaking the sequence."(Dominic Selwood)

On the basis of prior residence and control, a lot of people could lay a valid claim to Jerusalem. It seems the Jebusite Canaanites were there first and for longer.

I take the Douglas Murray line on Warsi as he said in The Spectator.I thought Cranmer was being sarcastic in his praise of this closet power hungry islamist.He'll eat his words in years to come when the true supremacist nature of this beast will be seen as islam gains strength in this dhimmified lost nation.

The bible records the Jebusites, a Canaanite tribe, inhabited Jerusalem before the Hebrews. Why shouldn't they stake a claim for the return of the land where they lived for 2000 years before being taken by force and ethnically cleansed?

Or what about the mysterious Melchizedek and his people? Whatever happened to them? Proving this one to the United Nations would be difficult.

Happy Jack cough what about the Indians ? cough. If I recall correctly from the pictures of that era, it was Indian lancers that escorted General Allenby's approaches to Jerusalem. And Hajj Kaiser Wilhelm? Surely the Germans deserve something for putting the Ottoman Empire on the League of Nations menu.

I'm a little late to the article, but there is a lot of smoke and mirrors regards Israeli arms sales.The media.left and followers of the epaceful faith state that we (UK) sold Israel £8 billion worth of arms. We didn't, we sold Israel £4 million, which when it comes to weapons of war is...nothing. The F35 jet we are buying comes in at £150 million each.

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Archbishop Cranmer takes as his inspiration the words of Sir Humphrey Appleby: ‘It’s interesting,’ he observes, ‘that nowadays politicians want to talk about moral issues, and bishops want to talk politics.’ It is the fusion of the two in public life, and the necessity for a wider understanding of their complex symbiosis, which leads His Grace to write on these very sensitive issues.

Cranmer's Law:

"It hath been found by experience that no matter how decent, intelligent or thoughtful the reasoning of a conservative may be, as an argument with a liberal is advanced, the probability of being accused of ‘bigotry’, ‘hatred’ or ‘intolerance’ approaches 1 (100%).”

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Freedom of speech must be tolerated, and everyone living in the United Kingdom must accept that they may be insulted about their own beliefs, or indeed be offended, and that is something which they must simply endure, not least because some suffer fates far worse. Comments on articles are therefore unmoderated, but do not necessarily reflect the views of Cranmer. Comments that are off-topic, gratuitously offensive, libelous, or otherwise irritating, may be summarily deleted. However, the fact that particular comments remain on any thread does not constitute their endorsement by Cranmer; it may simply be that he considers them to be intelligent and erudite contributions to religio-political discourse...or not.

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